"Well, American Top Team is one of the best gyms in the United Stated. I get along with master (Ricardo) Libório, with (Marcos) Parrumpinha, it’s just that, in order to do my own camp, to bring my own sparring and my friends to train with me and do a more specific training, I can’t stay there," Silva explained. "Nowadays you get to ATT’s mat and there are about 40, 50 guys, so it’s very complicated to get an specific training. There are three people on ATT I appreciate a lot, that are Parrumpinha, Katel (Kubis), who is a wonderful person as a coach, and master Libório."

Although he maintains that he left on good terms, "Bigfoot" explained that every team has conflicts and that he wanted to train with other fighters and camps, which wouldn’t have been possible if he had stayed at the gym.

"Every place has its problems, its disagreements. Everywhere you go, all team has. I didn’t have any issue when I left there. I still go there all Saturdays, watch the trainings of my friends, then everybody goes out to lunch together. I left there with everything right, I just wanted to focus more in me. I wanted to invest more in myself and have a bigger attention from the coaches, to have a training more focused on my fights and I was not having that on ATT. I want to fight for four or five years more. These years will be very important and decisive for me, I intend to feel like it was a accomplished mission. That’s why I decided to leave."

"I told master Libório that it was not a goodbye, I said ‘see you soon’. I love American Top Team, it’s just that, at this moment, I need to be alone, change the airs, so I decided to do my own training and, thank God, it worked. Everyone could tell I improved, I fought standing and I fought for three rounds… I would fight another round on that same rhythm, for sure. I’m very glad with my trainings with (Luiz) Banha, Jorge Santiago, Ouali and Marcos Aurélio… But, as I said, ATT is one of the bests teams in the world. It’s just that I’m not in any team right now, I’m a ‘freelancer’. I want to keep the doors opened for me anywhere I go, I want to train with my best man Minotauro in San Diego, with Minotouro and Anderson, Feijão, but I’m not in any team. From the moment I have an opponent, I’ll train Jiu-Jitsu, try to make it a part of my training and try to bring good people to train with me."

I can’t help but wonder if Silva’s mention that Jorge Santiago is training with them at the facility is an indicator that he may soon join the trio at their new digs full time.